Reflecting on children and birds

Sometimes we miss the beginning of a story but the portion of the story that we hear gives thoughts worthy for consideration. This happened last week as I passed the television set because the voice of a distressed female grabbed my attention so I paused to look and to listen. The local television newscast was in progress and the female was pointing out two or three birds (possibly some species of pigeons) that had been sitting in a tree apparently for some days. These birds had been sitting there long enough for a resident to call a local news reporter and television camera. It was theorized that the birds had gotten accustomed to living in a house but for some reason they had been let loose. The news reporter pointed out that if these were birds that were grown inside a house then they would stand no chance in the wild because  their wings were not sufficiently developed.

These we birds were given a freedom for which they were ill prepared and the time spent in captivity left them with no idea what to do with their freedom.

Nature is amazing and as far as we know there has been no new species of birds and/or animals appearing on the earth. So it is only reasonable to surmise that nature know how to preserve and keep balances and it is mainly through the activities of man that there have been recent extinction of some species. Man quite often seek to interrupt and interfere with what is a natural process without realizing that natural imbalances will naturally be corrected.

I grew up in Jamaica and it was a known reality that wealth offered certain privileges but quite often wealthy kids were pitied because they were usually denied the joys which the non wealthy enjoyed. The present generation of kids will never see what we thoroughly enjoyed then as being fun. It is all a reflection of changing time but some things never change.

We as children were free to create and enjoy our own forms of entertainment and parents did not dictate what we should enjoy.

There are at present a cadre of parents that are weak and ineffective and they are hiding behind their children so that this weakness does not become overly obvious. These parents have classified the public school system as  being wicked, evil and corrupt and they cannot have their darling children being exposed to these conditions. The public school system caters to the majority of children but these parents choose to send their children to private schools, schools associated with the churches or home school. These children are given the best in the ideal environment in a comparable  way to the birds that are kept in captivity in a house as a pet. Children learn from their parents and the high standards of home will be taken to school also.

It is possible that these children who attend private school, church school or are home schooled will have these ideal conditions throughout their lives lasting from kindergarten to university and into the world of work. Life however, conveniently like to provide the unexpected so quite often it designs its path so that those those students who attended the wicked, evil and corrupt public schools and those who attended school in the ideal environment either crosses path or at some point in time must travel the same road.

The ideal environment for learning does not necessarily make these children any more brilliant but it also robs them of the opportunity to interact and compete with their own age group. At some point in time the ideal situation will have to be left behind and initiation into harsh reality occur.

The birds that were mentioned earlier as being kept inside a house were ill equipped for life in the wild and were in need of being rescued. The question that, remains to be answered if the children who attended private schools, church school or are home schooled are properly equipped for life? This question arises because it is not the children who designed the public school system. The public school system will remain what it is and children will be children.

I am afraid that one day some children may just discover that that they have been tread like the birds that were kept inside the house and so they are ill equipped for survival outside their controlled environment.

I am reminded of a student who was taught to display confidence, he was in a competition and when asked a question he confidently declared that he knew the answer then gave a wrong answer.